BUS passengers have expressed their anger over an inconsistent and unreliable bus service which has left some people completely stranded.

In the past year, the bus company has struggled with driver shortages but recently announced a new schedule with improvements to some routes from September this year.

Bus user Rachel Davis, 45, said: “They announced buses from Harnham would be twice an hour from September, but they can’t even run one an hour. The communication at Salisbury Reds is so bad. You don’t even get emails back when you contact them.

“My partner and I are not well, and he has seizures. One day, we were stuck in town when three Harnham buses were missed out and we couldn’t walk back. Now we are scared to go out in case we can’t get back."

Rachel added: “My friend has multiple sclerosis and is in a wheelchair. She was stuck at the bus stop in Harnham for two to three hours. This is not the drivers at fault. It is the management that is poor.”

Parent Dave Leigh Imeson, 47, who has two children at different schools, said: “My children take separate buses. I have to collect my daughter from Harnham school and then meet my son.

“I have a bad back and knee at the moment, so it is difficult to walk but I have to if the bus does not turn up. I have heard that some children received detentions for being late to school.”

Another bus user Olga Smigulska, 39, said: “I go on an earlier bus now as a few times, my children missed the breakfast club. I use the PR7 from Bishopdown Farm so if the bus does not come, it is a 40-minute walk for me or an hour with my children.

“I spend all day on my feet at the restaurant so I don’t want to have to walk in and I cannot be late opening up. In the last year, the bus service has been so bad. My last complaint was in July, and they said they would investigate but I have heard nothing.”

Olga became so frustrated by the service that she set up a ‘dropped/late Salisbury Reds community group' on Facebook last week which has more than 300 people on it already.

She hopes that it will help people to know whether their bus is likely to turn up or not. 

A service disruption update was published on Thursday, September 16, stating "unprecedented levels of driver absence". Salisbury Reds said they mitigated the effects of the disruption by bringing in drivers from their sister operator in Swindon.

The bus company was also affected by a cyber-attack on its parent company – the Go-Ahead Group.  

Director Paula Good said: “It is hoped it will be resolved very soon. It impacts all phones, driver allocation systems, and vehicle tracking.

“The operation is doing everything possible to minimise disruption. Drivers leaving does not feature as a contributory reason, it is just a case that there are unprecedented high levels of absence for various reasons.”

Cllr Dr Mark McClelland, Cabinet Member for Transport said: “We are aware that Salisbury Reds are experiencing high levels of driver absence at the moment and that they suffered a cyber-attack on their IT systems last week, which have led to significant disruption to bus services in and around Salisbury.

“We will be meeting with senior representatives from the Go-Ahead Group, Salisbury Reds parent company, next week to discuss how they intend to improve the reliability of services and how long disruptions are likely to last.

“We are keen to see the reliability of bus services improve as quickly as possible as Wiltshire Council is committed to being carbon neutral by 2030 and bus services have an important part to play in achieving this aim.”

 

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